Joseph f



J. 1?. WHITE. Key-Bnard Attachment for Musical Instruments.

No. 227,461. Patented May 11, 1880.

WITNESSES: W 4 iwa w,

ORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH F. IVHIIE, OF BRATILEBOROUGH, VERlIIONT, ASSIGNOR TO E. P.

NEEDHAM & SON, OF NEYV YORK, N. Y.

KEY-BOARD ATTACHMENT F OR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 227,461, dated May 11, 1880,

Application filed May 2'7, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J osnrn F. WHITE, of Brattleborough,in the county of Windham and State of Vermont, have invented certain new 5 and useful Improvements in Attachments for Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to attachments which are adapted to be secured to organs or other 10 musical instruments, and which comprise a series of key-depressing levers which are actuated by a music sheet or card comprising projections and intermediate recesses.

My invention consists in various details of 15 construction and combinations of parts by which I produce a simple and compact attachment which is complete in itself, and can be applied to work the manual key-board of an organ or similar instrument with very little 2o trouble.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan of the keyboard of a musical instrument and a partly-sectional plan of an attachment applied thereto embodying my invention, with the case of the latter removed, the middle portion of both the key-board and attachment being broken away to economize space. Fig. 2 is a transverse section through such attachment and key-board. Fig. 3 is a 0 plan of a portion of an attachment of modified form of key-board. Fig. 4 is a plan of a portion of a music card or sheet for operating the attachment; and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a portion of an organ having my attach- 3 5 ment applied thereto.

Similar letters of reference designate corre sponding parts in all the figures.

. A A designate the two'end pieces of a framework supporting the several parts of my at- 0 tachment, and B designates a brace or bar connecting them.

O designates a number of pivoted levers hinged at the end, as here represented, to a rod, to, passing through the cross-bar 1'3, and

5 each provided near its pivoted end with a projection, b, which is preferably triangular on its upper face.

Arranged immediately over the projections b is a pressure device for holding the music 50 sheet or card I? in contact with the projections b of the levers O. As here shown, it consists of a bar, D, supported at each end by a spring, 0, so as to permit it to yield vertically. In order to adjust it suitably for operating on music sheets or cards of dit'l'erent thickness, I employ thumb-screws (1, shown as passing through lugs f on the frame-work and bearing upon the springs 0.

Near each end of the presser device or bar D are guides E, which may be adjusted upon the said bar toward or from each other to suit the width of the music-sheet.

In front of the presser-bar D are arranged feed-rollers F G, supported in bearings ll, between which the music card or sheet passes, and which serve to feed the music card or sheet through the instrument. The meeting surfaces of these rollers are in approximately the same plane as the levers 0. As here re 'iresented, the upper roller, G, has a plane straight surface, while the bottom roller, F, has a varied periphery, or is of difi'erent diameters at difterent points in its length, so as to permitthe rollers to bite upon the plane portions of the music sheet or card and not upon the projections thereon. As here shown, the said bottom roller is provided with a series of annular grooves. (See Fig. 1.) As here represented, motion is imparted to the feed-roller F by means ofa crank, I, acting through a pinion, K, gearing with a cog-wheel, L, on the end of the said roller, and when a music card or sheet is passing through the instrument it is clamped between the feed-rollers, and the upper roller, G, is rotated by friction thereon.

The mechanism of my attachment is preferably inelosed in a case, M, the rear ends, g, of which are preferably prolonged, so as to clamp upon the key-blocks of an organ or other musical instrument.

To securely clamp the attachment upon a musical instrument, I employ holders consisting of curved rods h, which, in connection with the prolonged end pieces, g, of the case M, form clamps or dogs to secure the attachment to thekey-board of an instrument. These rods are secured to the case M by means of setscrews t, and are provided at their lower ends with thumb-screws h.

hen the attachment is setin place and se cured to the key-board N of a musical instrument the free ends of the levers O rest upon IOO the keys 0, and in this instance the levers C serve, without intervening mechanism, for operating the keys.

1 designates a music sheet or card comprising projections and intermediate recesses, which form the notes, and which are repre sented as set in parallel lines. As here shown, the projections are formed by attaching to or forming upon the face of the sheetor card pieces Z, and the recesses are formed by the spaces between these pieces.

When it is desired to operate the attachment the music sheet or card is inserted, face downward, under the presser-bar D and between the feed-rollers F Gr. As the crank I is turned the music sheet or card is passed through the attachment in a plane approximately parallel with the keys of the instrument, and its projections 1 act 011 the projections Z) on the levers O, which, in turn, depress the keys 0 and cause the proper notes to be sounded.

The feed-rollers F G bite upon the music sheet or card at their points of greatest diameter only, while the projections 1 upon the sheet or card come opposite the grooves of parts of the roller which are of less diameter.

In order to accommodate music sheets or cards of different thickness the top feed-roller, G, is preferably provided with springs m, which 'forceit downward, so as to exert a uniform pressure on sheets or cards of different thickness.

The guides E may be adjusted along the presserbar D to suit the width of any music sheet or card, and when so adjusted will properly guide the sheet or card laterally.

The distance between the presser-bar D and the levers C may be regulated by means of the set-screws d, and hence the keys 0 may be depressed to a greater or less extent.

In order to render the attachment as compact as possible, the levers C may be brought close together, side by side, to be acted on by the music card or sheet, and made to diverge, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, so as to cover the keys 0. This construction renders the attachment portable and compact.

By varying the height of the projections on the music sheet P notes of any tone, either soft or loud, may be produced.

By my invention I produce an attachment very simple in construction, and so arranged that it may be applied to the key-board of a musical instrument in a very short time without modification of the latter.

I/Vhat I. claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an attachment for musical instruments adapted to be operated by a music sheet or card having projections and intermediate recesses, the combination, with a presser-bar or device under which the sheet or card passes, of levers with which the projections on said sheet or card come in contact, and which extend to and act directly upon the keys, thereby transmitting to the keys the impulse imparted to them by said projections, substantially as specified.

2. In an attachment for a musical instrument adapted to be operated by a music sheet or card having projections and intermediate recesses, the combination, with a pair of feedrollers, between which the sheet or card passes, of a presser-bar or device, independent of the feed-rollers, under which the sheet or card passes, and which holds the sheet or card against upward movement, spring -supports for said bar or device, and levers which are depressed by the projections on said sheet or card and serve to operate the keys of the instrument, substantially as specified.

3. In an attachment for a musical instrument adapted to be operated by a music sheet or card having projections and intermediate recesses, the combination, with a presser-bar or device under which the sheet or card passes, of feed-rol1ers for feeding the sheet or card through the attachment, and levers with which the projections on said sheet or card come in contact, and which extend to and act upon the keys, thereby transmitting to the keys the impulse imparted to them by said projections, substantially as specified.

4. In an attachment for a musical instrument adapted to be operated by amusic sheet or card having projections and intermediate recesses, the combination, with a presser-bar or device under which the music sheet or card passes, of levers which are depressed by the projections on said sheet or card, and feed rollers for feeding the sheet or card through the attachment, arranged with their meeting surfaces in approximately the same plane as said levers, substantially as specified.

5. In an attachment for a musical instrumentadapted to be operated by a music card or sheet having projections and intermediate recesses, the combination, with a pair of feedrollers, between which the sheet or card passes, of guides for precluding lateral displacement of the sheet or card, a presser-bar or device, independent of the feed-rollers, under which the sheet or card passes, and which holds the sheet or card against upward movement, spring-supports for said bar or device, and levers which are depressed by the projections on said sheet or card and serve to operate the keys of the instrument, substantially as specified.

6. In an attachment for a musical instrument adapted to be operated by a music sheet or card having projections and intermediate recesses, the combination, with a presser-bar or device under which the sheet or card passes, and levers adapted to be depressed by the projections on said sheet or card, of feedrollers and guides for precluding lateral displacement of the sheet or card, adapted to be adjusted to suit sheets or cards of diiferent widths, substantially as specified.

I Vitnesses: JOSEPH F. WHITE.

KrrrREDeE HASKINS, G130. H. OLAPP. 

